When the Fairy Tale Ends
by Dark Aegis
Summary: All things end, even fairy tales. A Rose POV ficlet postSchool Reunion.


**Title:** When the Fairy Tale Ends  
**Author:** Gillian Taylor  
**Rating:** PG  
**Characters:** Rose Tyler  
**Summary:** All things end, even fairy tales.  
**Spoilers:** School Reunion  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own them. I just like playing with them...a lot.  
**Archive:** Sure, just let me know.

**A/N:** Thanks, as always, to my lovely betas NNWest and WMR.

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_When the Fairy Tale Ends  
by Gillian Taylor_

When Rose Tyler was a little girl, she'd loved her fairy tales. No matter what happened, or how bad it might seem, the hero always defeated the dragon and rescued the princess from her ordinary life. And happily ever after always awaited them at the end.

She'd always told her mum that someday her prince would come. Someday she'd find him. Someday he'd take her away on adventures and she'd find her happily ever after. It would happen; she just had to be patient.

Finally, she'd met her Prince Charming. Though the hero didn't ride a white steed, he travelled in a battered blue police box through space and time, and it was enough for her. She'd seen the end of the world, defeated ghosts, gas-masked zombies, the Slitheen, and Daleks. And throughout, her Prince Charming was there.

The Doctor. Her Doctor.

He'd changed, regenerated, for her. To save her life, she'd later learned, he'd died. He'd died for her and that seemed romantic. Her Prince Charming. He might've changed, but it was still him. Still her Doctor. And she was still his Rose.

Then she'd learned the truth. Found that fairy tales were just that – fairy tales. Fanciful, fleeting, and transient. She'd thought she was special. She'd thought she'd found happily ever after. But what she didn't see, couldn't see, hadn't seen was what would happen after happily ever after.

He didn't age. Couldn't age. He was timeless, a Time Lord, an alien. She was human with a finite lifespan. She couldn't keep up indefinitely. She couldn't be the princess to his prince forever.

She'd found her destiny in the eyes of Sarah Jane Smith. Left behind because he couldn't stay, could never stay. There would always be someone new - a new princess to his prince, a new Wendy to his Pan. All things end. All things wither and die. All things except for him.

She could become like Sarah Jane. A woman who hadn't lived on after the Doctor, after her happily ever after. She'd just survived. Lived because she had to. Lived on waiting for her prince to return, only he never had. That was what happened after happily ever after.

She preferred the fairy tale. A world with happily ever afters and princes and princesses. Though they lived in a battered blue police box and travelled through space and time, it was the same. It was a fairy tale. She could hold on to her childhood, to the dreams and hopes of her youth, for only so long.

She'd have to grow up sometime. And find if she could survive after happily ever after was gone.

But, for now, within the TARDIS, growing up was optional. She lived in Neverland, but some day she'd have to go back. She'd have to go home some time, return to real life, a job, family and friends.

He'd go on. Find a new princess to travel with him. Then they'd see all of space and time in their own fairy tale.

But all things end. All things wither and die. All things, even fairy tales.

And, as she considered her future, she smiled.

There would be life after happily ever after. Because for a time, for a gloriously short time, she would've had that fairy tale. She would've held it in the palm of her hand, entwined her fingers with those of her Prince Charming, and defeated the monsters. For a time, she would have that happily ever after.

And, though that time was fleeting, though it would break her heart in the end, though happily ever after couldn't last forever, it was enough.

For now, Peter wasn't the only one who didn't want to grow up. But some day she would be ready. Some day, she'd leave Neverland by her own choice.

Now, she would live her happily ever after. But, in the end, she'd leave her Prince Charming. Because fairy tales couldn't, and shouldn't, last forever.

Even Cinderella has to grow up sometime.

**THE END**


End file.
